Charlotte Area Transit System starts new bus route Monday

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Charlotte Area Transit System started a new bus route on Monday that it said more than a 100,000 people will ride every year.

The route runs down Highway 51 in south Charlotte from Carolina Place Mall to Independence Boulevard.

Eyewitness News found out on Monday why riders and businesses have been anticipating this day.

Andre Money was one of the first riders on the new route on Monday. He works near Carolina Place Mall and said the new route will save him two hours a day.

"Normally I leave at 9:45. Now I can leave at 10:45. So, it does not take me two hours. It takes me one hour now," he said.

The rider said he is used to travel all the way to the transit center uptown to get a ride back south to Carolina Place Mall.

"But now it is easy for me to catch a ride," he said.

The dedicated bus runs back and forth every day except Sunday.

"It is going to make a lot of sense for a lot of people," he said.

CATS estimates it will make sense for about 112,000 riders a year.

It was created because so many people asked for it at public meetings while updating the countywide transit service plan, and riders are not the only ones excited -- workers at Charlotte Café at the Arboretum, next to one of the bus stops, thinks it will increase traffic.

"It would bring more business to the plaza. They would eat lunch or dinner before or after they commute on the bus," said Money.

The buses run from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays, and 9 to 7 p.m. on Saturday.